Watching the Ducks fly south at Autzen was a shocker that settled in before halftime. That it was the worst defeat since 1977 was an unwanted reminder of dark Duck days. The 2-9 Ducks of ’77 invited everyone to beat them, home and away.
One U of O student from 1977 said they witnessed worse defeats, but they didn’t feel as crushing as the 62-20 romp and stomp the Utah Utes brought to Autzen. Watching the Ducks fall so hard that they dropped out of the top 25 ranking makes some fans feel like they could step into a PAC-12 game and do a better job.
Here’s some helpful advice to those guys: hold your seat. Unless you’ve played PAC-12 football, you have no chance. From most fans’ perspective, you wouldn’t have made the 1977 team either.
Yes the mighty Duck lost big, but not big enough to panic. They lost in a bad way, but the college football season has too many games left to quit early. Could a two loss team still make the playoffs for the national championship?
Imagine Oregon sweeping the rest of their schedule, winning the PAC-12 North before winning the PAC-12 title game. Hello Rose Bowl. Is the Rose Bowl good enough? No one is too good to look down on the Granddaddy of all bowl games.
10-2 might be a stretch, but from here it looks like a salvation of the season we’ve seen so far.
On the other hand, if Oregon Duck football stinks up the rest of their schedule, Duck fans have some solace in the NFL. We’ve still got Chip Kelly magic happening in Philadelphia.
After two ten win seasons, he’s getting into his third with all the noise and controversy he started in Oregon. What other recent Oregon head coach transitioned like he did. Rich Brooks and the Rams? OSU coaches Mile Riley and Dennis Erickson at San Diego, Seattle, and San Francisco? No, no, and no. (Dennis Erickson is the assistant head coach for the Utah team that just handed the Ducks that big loss, so score for him).
What do Oregon fans do if the Ducks and Eagles both get clipped? What happens if both birds get grounded?
We’ve still got Marcus Mariota guiding the Tennessee Titans. Our golden boy is still golden. Three games into his NFL career, he’s gone from perfect, to seven sacks, to an unfortunate loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Throughout he’s shown the sort of poise and durability you need in the NFL.
He left a year of eligibility on the table at Oregon, but who stays that extra year after winning the Heisman and an appearance in the National Championship game? Unless you’re a USC quarterback like Matt Leinart or Matt Barkley, that senior season belongs in the NFL not the sorority house.
Duck football fans will always cherish the memory of Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota moving forward. Together they pushed Oregon into the stratosphere where hardly anyone could keep up.
As the 2015 version of the Ducks plays out, we’ve got a cushion to ease the bumps along the road.
Again, could a two loss team make it into the college football playoffs? Ask the 2007 LSU Tigers, who finished that season 12-2 and hung another title on their wall.
In the meantime, don’t drag your duck in the dirt.
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